Korea

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether, during his recent meeting with his South Korean counterpart, he discussed the use by North Korea of blueprints of the British Magnox reactor design to construct its plutonium production reactors currently under inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

We do not know whether North Korea has drawn on plans of British reactors in the production of its own reactors. North Korea possesses a graphite moderated reactor which, while much smaller, has generic similarities to the reactors operated by British Nuclear Fuels plc. However, design information of these British reactors is not classified and has appeared in technical journals.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs did not discuss this matter with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea during their recent meeting.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the outcome of the International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear safeguards inspection visit to the North Korean nuclear facilities on 18 May.

The full outcome of the latest visit of an International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team to North Korea will not be known until after their return to Vienna. However, the IAEA Director-General, Dr. Blix, reported to the United Nations Security Council on 20 May that the inspectors had been allowed to perform outstanding safeguards activities at the radiochemical laboratory. He also confirmed that North Korea had begun discharging fuel from the core of its 5MW reactor, in violation of its safeguards agreement.